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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26930188">Do no harm</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/o0Anapher0o/pseuds/o0Anapher0o'>o0Anapher0o</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Introspection, Post-Episode: s05e12 The Begotten, Post-Episode: s05e16 Doctor Bashir I Presume, or lack thereof, parenting ethics</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 02:35:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>837</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26930188</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/o0Anapher0o/pseuds/o0Anapher0o</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>They say that no Changeling has ever harmed another, yet Odo can’t forget that an infant Changeling has died on DS9 when a Founder was on board pretending to be the Doctor.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Do no harm</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>It’s another think piece, idk I seem to do those a lot at the moment. I’ll get back to writing plot some day I promise.</p><p>Russian translation by thursday <a href="https://ficbook.net/readfic/10263946">here</a></p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Dr Bashir had been exposed as being genetically enhanced it hadn’t meant an awful lot to Odo. It was a solids’ thing he didn’t know or cared much about. He understood the procedure was illegal in the Federation and that the Doctor had lied to hide his alterations, which lowered him slightly in Odo’s esteem. But he also understood that procedure had been performed without Bashir’s consent and that the law prohibiting it was based mostly on prejudice and precedence, not because it was in fact an injustice and Odo had always cared more for justice than for the law (with the exception of Quark, because locking up Quark was both justice and the law). When Bashir’s father went to prison, Odo had therefore considered it justice sufficiently served.</p><p>So the only question he ever asked Bashir about his enhancements was if he had ever sacrificed the life of a patient to protect his secret. He was not surprised when it was met with a resounding and slightly insulted “No!”. It fit with his experience with the Federation in general and the Doctor in particular. He knew that Bashir had on occasion performed feats that had been considered nothing short of miracles by people who knew more about humanoid medicine than Odo did. Vedek Bareill came to mind.</p><p>“That’s all I need to know then.” he told the human and left him in peace.</p><p>He believed the Doctor, but still, the answer left him somehow unsatisfied. Unfortunately it wasn’t this Bashir he wanted to demand answers from. More even than for not uncovering the Doctor’s secret Odo was annoyed with himself that he hadn’t noticed the Changeling who had replaced him shortly before. Nerys would probably tell him that he had still been preoccupied with being turned solid and that even Garak, a former member of the Obsidian Order and one of Bashir’s best friends hadn’t noticed anything amiss, but Odo knew an excuse when he heard one. It was an occupational hazard of a security chief, which made it only worse in this case. The station’s security was his job, he should have noticed.</p><p>The incident he could least shake was the time Quark had sold him (sold him! He should still go ahead and charge him for slavery) the baby changeling. Bashir had been a changeling then.</p><p>In hindsight that had probably been the reason he had largely stayed out of Odo’s way then. That fact alone should have made Odo suspicious. As if Bashir with his constant curiosity and nagging enthusiasm would have left him alone to experiment with a changeling infant. But Odo had been distracted by Dr Mora and Starfleet breathing down his neck and… He huffed to himself. More excuses.</p><p>But the real issue he could not get his mind off was that the baby changeling had died. He had died in the care of the Changeling Bashir and Odo could not stop wondering if he could have saved him and had chosen not to, to protect his cover.</p><p>The next time he linked with the Female Changeling he asked, but she couldn’t tell him. The Imposter Bashir had been killed, so he had never returned to the link to share his thoughts and experiences as Bashir.</p><p>Naturally she tried to reassure him, but the repeated mantra that no Changeling (other than Odo himself, he didn’t begrudge her the reminder) had ever harmed another rang somewhat hollow to him. Of course the guilt of having killed one of his own still weighed heavily, but his time with Dr Mora and in fact the whole story of Bashir’s parents had reminded him that physical injury wasn’t the only way a person could be harmed.</p><p>The founders had sent him, the baby that had died and who knew how many others out into the galaxy; infants to rely on themselves and the kindness of strangers in which the Founders by their own admission didn’t believe. Rather than raise them among their own and explore the galaxy like virtually all other races did it, by sending volunteers, they threw their young out into the cold, harsh universe without any knowledge of themselves and if the ended up in captivity, as party attractions or exposed to deadly radiation that seemed to be price they were willing to pay. Solids had their faults and many of them, but Odo knew for a fact that, if parents in most humanoid races did the same to their children, they would certainly be accused of harming them and courts all over the alpha quadrant would consider it a crime worthy of severe punishment. So no, the Changeling Bashir might not have actively harmed the baby, but that wasn’t to say he would have gone out of his way to save him if it didn’t fit with his objectives.</p><p>In that moment, however, the joy and relief of being linked with another again was so overwhelming that Odo didn’t voice these concerns. There would be time for that later.</p>
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